Queen Of Spades
by hiraikoneko
Summary: Sequel to Cheshire Grin. My name is Alice, but they still call me Cheshire. Maybe it's the grin? Roxanne and I have left Logue Town with Ace, and now, we're Whitebeard Pirates. I should be happy, but here in Grand-Line, where the ocean is so sad, I can't shake this feeling that things are going to go horribly wrong. Oh well...I'll just have to do everything I can to stop it. Right?


**Author's Notes**

**Hello lovelies~! Its been a while! Anyways, here is the awaited sequel to Cheshire Grin, and I hope you will all enjoy this even more than you did CG. **

**This first chapter is, unfortunately not as action packed as future chapters. As it is, this is simply a re-cap of sorts, for me and for those of you who haven't read CG in a long time. And I promise that future chapters will also go on longer. February kinda attacked me faster than I thought it would, my other stories hogged all my attention, and school kept me pretty busy, so I wasn't able to write any chapters beforehand...Updates could take a bit...sorry.**

**I warn you all beforehand that I do not own a word-processor, so there are bound to be a number of painful mistakes,, because I really get into the writing and sometimes I just speed through things. I (and probably a number of your fellow readers) would greatly appreciate it if you could point out any mistakes you see...**

**But yeah...Please review, follow and favorite!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own One Piece and I can only lay claim to my lovely OCs.**

**One: Cheshire Alice**

Sometimes, I really hated it when I forgot things. One of these things was how to get into Grand-line. There were other ways, yes, but this was by far the stupidest way to get in. Since all three of the people aboard our tiny vessel were Devil Fruit Users, the chances of our survival weren't that great.

Really...it was just the way I liked it. What was life without risking it for no real reason? A long one, yes, but also an incredibly boring one as well.

I had been surprised to hear that Roxanne was a devil fruit user as well. She had an interesting ability, but it did explain a number of things. Jane had picked up the habit of calling Rox 'Lizard-girl'. It wasn't because she was a zoan user, but it was an ability her devil fruit had.

Rox ate what she called the Ha Ha no Mi, or the Blade Blade Fruit. It was rather deadly. Blades grew from her skin. When she first demonstrated this, I instantly thought back to my room at the Inn, when the walls, ceiling and floor had been coated in knives, as though some great metal porcupine had been jump-scared.

In some ways, I was right.

Jane had called her Lizard-girl because Rox would overlap the knives coming from her skin to form a layer of what looked like scales.

Her devil fruit also explained why Roxanne always had a throwing knife with her. She MADE them. It was ridiculous.

So, we had a zoan user, a logia user and a paramycia user. Oh, and an egg. As I've already said, this could end very badly for us.

"I don't want to be a pirate anymore." I said, staring up at the cloudy peak of Reverse Mountain.

Roxanne snickered, "It ain't that bad...so, where's the tunnel?"

Ace and I turned to her with skeptical expressions.

"I don't know how to tell you this, Roxanne...but there is no tunnel." Ace said. I began to grin.

"Then how to we go through?"

"We don't." I replied. Ace and I shared a conspiratorial look, "We go over."

"WHAT!?"

"Yep. We sail UP Reverse Mountain." I said with a snicker.

"No. Just...How the hell are we supposed ta do that?" Roxanne asked, shouting in disbelief.

I smiled, "Reverse Mountain is where the four Blue's join up. They create a powerful current that goes up the mountain, forming a reverse river. That's why they call it Reverse Mountain. If you go up the mountain, the water flows down on the other side, like a big water slide."

I let Roxanne and Ace talk for a while while I listened to all the different Blues talking at once, even though they were the same being.

The North was lonely. The South was shy. The West was bored. The East was cheerful.

Just over Reverse Mountain, I could hear her crying. I hated Grand-line. Bad things happened to me here...but bad things happened to the sea too. So many unforgivable things happened here.

_~So, you're finally crossing back over?~ _

The sea's voice was a familiar sound by now, made of hundreds of thousands of other voices, all mashed together in what should be an unholy cacophony...but her voice was beautiful. Instead of sounded like a mess, it was like all those voices were speaking -or singing even- in unison.

_*Yeah. Don't worry...I'll do my best to stop the pain for you.*_

_~I know you will, Little Traveler.~_

I smiled, before looking back at the mountain. Our tiny craft was being pushed into the proper position by the sea, so that our boat wasn't demolished as we approached the river.

I hugged my pack, where Polo was safely bundled up, so that the bag couldn't be knocked around.

I used my free hand to grip tightly to the edge of the boat, extending my claws so that I was securely attached to the boat.

Roxanne took in the way my claws were buried in the wood, and decided to do a similar thing, letting small blades dig into the seat under her, like the barbs of a thorn.

Ace looked between the two of us and appeared to pout, "That just isn't fair."

I snickered, "Hey, you almost never get hit...this just balances things out."

There was a sudden lurch as the angle our boat was sailing changed, and suddenly the boat was moving UP. After what seemed like an eternity, the boat reached the summit of Reverse Mountain. We were surrounded by clouds, and I could see each breath we took come out in little puffs of cloud.

Peering down, we could see what appeared to be the looming form of a second mountain, but I knew better. It was an Island Whale.

"So...What now?" Roxanne asked, staring down the slope with an expression of clear foreboding. We grinned at her, just as the boat teetered over the edge and made the rapid plunge down the side of Reverse Mountain.

I let out a joyful scream, taking in the rush and the beauty of the scene around us. Droplets of water splashed up and in the cold temperature, they began to crystallize mid-air.

I suppose it would be best if I explained how we got here...to Grand-line. My name is Aka Oni D. Alice, part of a once infamous clan known as the Red Devils, based off of our red hair.

When I was very young, my family moved back to the ocean, on Shell Island...or something like that. Not long had passed before I made a friend, named Portgas D. Ace. He inspired me to follow in the footsteps of my family before me, and become a pirate. I was promised a place on his crew when I got older.

After Ace left on his adventure, I was forced by some brat to eat what I later learnt was a Devil Fruit, which gave me the ability to copy the form of a cat I came into contact with and use it. The first cat I touched afterwards was a simple calico cat who lived in an alley.

The day after I gained these Devil Fruit abilities, pirates attacked my island. The pirates targeted my family, because a member of their crew was working there. She was known as Caramel Jane.

The only reason I survived that day was because of two reasons, the first being that Ring Leader Simon found me amusing, and the second being the devil fruit, which changed the colour of my hair, replaced my human ears with those of a cat's, and gave me a tail. I was a new attraction to his 'Circus on the Sea'.

It was far from a child-friendly show. He made me kill other people...people my age, sometimes even younger. He made me kill until I couldn't feel the guilt anymore. All there was was the need to survive...and if it meant other people had to die...I did it.

Simon also dabbled in Human Trades. For years I was sold to one person to the next, but Simon always double-crossed those who bought me...and in the end, each master met an untimely demise.

When I did escape, it was only because of my devil fruit and the ocean. Before that point, I had no clue how to use it...but one day, the ocean began speaking to me, and she taught me how to do it. I turned into a cat and I escaped.

I spent a long time wandering the seas, trying to find a way home. I wanted to restart on my home island. I wanted to set sail from the beach of Shell Island, and find Ace. Before I got home, I ended up making a name for myself...I killed a lot of people, sunk a lot marine ships. I stowed away on all kinds of sea-fairing craft...it was a lot of fun.

I met a few people along the way, including my close friend Kaya. A while after that, I met Monkey D. Luffy...and it kinda changed my life. Before then, I had trouble remembering people...I hardly even saw them as people. They were just...there. I never remembered names or faces, or how I met them...but I definitely remembered Luffy. And Zoro. And Tiger. And Nami. And Usopp. How could I not? Especially a hottie like Tiger?

I found my uncle Shanks, who was once a member of Gol D. Roger's crew. He was my father's identical twin brother. It was there that I remembered what my own name was...because I had actually managed to forget it.

I eventually made it to Logue Town and I got myself a really old looking messenger bird, and I used Polo (The bird) to send messages to Ace. I found out that Ace wasn't a captain anymore, but he had joined Whitebeard...which was some pretty big news. I stayed at a cheap inn that was run by Roxanne.

Simon found me on Logue Island, and I did my best to hide, but eventually that kidnapped Roxanne and tried to capture me again...I went crazy and killed a lot of people. Simon nearly killed me...And then low and behold my (hot) ex-future-captain comes in a saves the day. Polo turned into an egg (long story), Roxanne's inn was trashed and I'm a wanted criminal...so we all climbed into Ace's boat and here we are.

Our little boat was currently rocketing towards the island whale dead ahead, and I wondered how we were going to stop...since you know, our little boat would turn to splinters if it hit the whale.

Roxanne's eyes widened as she realized the same thing as me, before reaching into her bag and pulling out a ball of yarn or twine. A knife grew out of her palm and she looped the end of the twine to the knife before it came flying out, like it was shot out of a cannon. The knife arched through the air, travelling ahead of out boat and down the mountain before digging deeply into the stone surface.

She did this a number of times in rapid succession, each time she tied the other end of the twine to the boat, until we reached the end of the ride down. The boat suddenly veered to the side, pulled sharply by the tough twines holding it.

I blinked in surprise. I hadn't really expected it to work...not that I'd really known what Rox was doing.

Thanks to Rox's quick thinking, we were now bound for a lighthouse that sat on an outcropping of rock. The three of us shared a look and decided to stop at the lighthouse, although we hadn't been at sea for all that long...but I thought (and the others agreed) that it would be a good idea to calm ourselves after nearly dying two minutes into our journey of Grand-line.

"Why did you even have that twine in your bag?" Ace asked.

Rox smirked, "I thought it'd be useful."

As we made our way up to the lighthouse, we noticed a man sitting on a folding chair reading the newspaper. He glanced up as we approached, but otherwise did nothing.

"Hello." I greeted, while Rox and Ace offered their own words. The old man again looked up from his newspaper, but didn't bother answering. I twitched slightly. I didn't like people who didn't talk. Some had excuses...like Tiger. This guy...I couldn't know for sure, but until I did...he bothered me.

There was a thunderous CRASH and the earth shook. I spun around to find the source of the disturbance, and I came upon the sight of the Island Whale ramming his scarred head against the rock that separated the seas.

_*I need to...my crew...friends...let me out...*_ The words were fractured and hard to understand...I was a cat after all, and Whale did not translate very easily. Not that's I've even spoken to many whales. I did remember this one though, from way back when.

I didn't know his name, but I remember Simon suggesting that the crew kill it. There would be enough food to last months.

If I remembered correctly, a harpoon had come flying out of no where and pierced the hull of our ship, forcing Simon to back off and get to an island quick to do more permanent repairs.

"He's still at it." I whispered. I had thought that after all these years he would have stopped slamming into the wall. I didn't know his story...but there must have been something very important to him on the other side.

"He did that when I first came through here." Ace told me, as the three of us stared at the sight.

The old man scoffed, "He's been at it for fifty years."

We all turned to look at him. So, now he talked. I guess the whale was important to him, or something.

"Oh?" Roxanne asked, trying to get more out of the old man.

"He came to Grand-line following a crew of pirates...but he was too young to venture out into the sea with them, so they asked me to watch over him until they could some back."

"And they never did." I said, understanding what he was getting at.

"I told him that they weren't coming back and that they had probably left Grand-Line, but Laboon wouldn't believe me. He slammed into the wall, and he's been doing it ever since."

"I...know the feeling." I said, smiling. It wasn't a happy smile, but an understanding one. I remembered the days when I doubted I'd see Ace again. I would have headbutted down a mountain if I thought it would get me anywhere.

Roxanne felt the need to flick the back of my head. I let out a surprised growl, putting a hand to the back of my head. She smirked at me, but said nothing. I was confused as to why she did it, but I could only guess she had a reason.

Or, she was insane. That was always a possibility. I did attract them, it seemed. We crazies are like magnets.


End file.
